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The Waiting Room and New Possibilities

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  I am waiting and maintaining my presence For centuries, artists have shown what it means to wait. Their works capture quiet, tense moments in which every gesture and expression suggests deep emotions just below the surface. One of my favourite artists who explored the theme of waiting is Honoré Daumier. His lithographs and paintings of third-class carriage passengers or people in court waiting rooms are especially insightful. He captures patience, exhaustion, and resignation in their faces and postures, turning waiting into a thoughtful reflection on human life. When I made my digital watercolour, I wanted to capture the feeling of waiting, just as artists before me have done. I used bright oranges and golds to create energy and contrast with the central figure, who appears deep in thought. We have to learn to inhabit the pause rather than just trying to leap over it. I think of it as staying engaged with the 'now,' even when the 'now' feels like a dead end. Instead o...
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Time and Distraction reflection

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Time and Distraction reflection
  • Reflection on competing needs
Plan to Plan
  • Start the day with a 10-minute planning space
Delegate to technology
  • Use technology effectively to cut out duplication and repetition
Use a variety of memory-based approaches
  • Hearing, Text, Visual and Tactile
Enable Planning
  • Learning Planning processes
  • Remove Procrastination
  • Self reflect on organizational practices
  • Develop a can-do mindset
I Can't Get My Work Done:
  • An hour per day of distracted time translates into $10,375 of wasted productivity per person per year, assuming an average salary of $30/hour. 
  • That is more than the average U.S. driver will spend this year to own and maintain a car, according to the Automobile Association of America (AAA). 
  • Toggling between multiple applications/windows/tabs/items on the desktop contributes to the problem of distraction, along with using multiple devices at the same time. 
  • 45% of survey respondents keep at least six items open simultaneously, and 65% report using one to three desktop or mobile devices in addition to their main computer.
From Associated Content: a few active steps you can take to minimize distractions:
  • Know yourself and what distracts you
  • Change your atmosphere if necessary (turn down or up the music, for instance)
  • Limit computer distractions to certain times of the day or a certain number of times (such as checking your email 3 xs/day)
  • Don’t take calls unless convenient for you; you can call back
  • Shorten conversations with coworkers
Email Distraction
  • STOP REACTING
  • According to a 2007 study by Loughborough University academic, Thomas Jackson, most of us reply to e-mails immediately - many within six seconds. Then it takes at least a minute to recover our thoughts. Not long after, more e-mails arrive, with more checking, and so on.








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  1. DebMay 31, 2011 at 11:54 AM

    And ironically I found this post through Twitter while sitting down to write a post myself.

    I agree, it's a constant battle to stay on track. When I'm working I often shut Twitter off completely, those little flashes that something new has arrived are too tempting. I try to deal with email twice a day - when I get up I go through and delete, then at the end of the day I answer things I've had a chance to think about.

    At least that's the aim!

    ReplyDelete

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